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Woman Gives Birth To Own Grandchildren For Second Time

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- When Susie Kozisek learned that her adult daughter Ashley couldn't have children of her own because of a medical condition, there really wasn't much hesitation.

She wanted to help her daughter make a family.

"I love being a mom and I knew she'd be a great mom,” Kozisek told ABC 6 when we first met her in May.

Back then, Kozisek was nearly 28 weeks pregnant with her twin grandchildren.

"I just thought it'd be pretty selfish if I could do it and I didn't,” Kozisek said.

So with the egg of her daughter, and her son-in-law's seed, Kozisek gave birth to twin girls, Hallee and Hadlee on July 15th.

“They were born at 37 weeks and they had no problems at all,” said Ashley Larkin, Kozisek’s daughter. “We only spent three nights in the hospital and then we got to come home."

Kozisek is 52-years-old, and other than a few extra trips to the doctor's office just to be safe, she said everything went as planned.

“We're just very, very blessed,” Kozisek said. “I can't really complain about the way I feel at all, pretty much back to normal."

“We’re all doing well,” Larkin said. “Getting some sleep when we can, and they're both very content babies."

And despite giving birth to Larkin’s first child, Harper, two years ago, Kozisek said their family's story still managed to raise some eyebrows in the small community of Ventura, Iowa, where the family lives.

“People that didn't know, I'm sure they wondered if I didn't know better or what was going on,” Kozisek said laughing.

“It did shock a lot of people, especially the second time around, and then that they were twins,” Larkin added. “They were very shocked. ‘Your mom's too old for that,’ and 'Are you sure that's what you want?’"

But the family said for all the shock, there's also been plenty of support.

“We’re from a small town so most people respond positively,” Larkin said. “I guess we haven't had any negative response really."

“We’ve had a lot of support and a lot of encouragement so we feel blessed by that too,” Kozisek said.

The family said they hope their story will encourage other prospective parents to consider using a surrogate.

“Maybe people didn't know about it,” Kozisek said. “I didn't know about it before I saw somebody else had done it, so I think it would give somebody hope."

But right now, the family said they’re really just hoping for a little rest.

“I forgot that a lack of sleep is not fun,” Larkin said laughing. “However [the twins] are sleeping great."

Kozisek said she's felt all along that this is her daughter's family, that the girls are her grandchildren, and that she is perfectly happy being grandma.